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Building A Dream Life

There’s Something Better Out There for Each of Us

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Figuring Out What It Is, Is the Hard Part

 

There were a couple of boys selling candy bars to raise money for a school project. When they asked a man walking by if he would like to by one, he agreed to, on one condition…the boys had to eat it. The kind gesture on the part of the man backfired when one of the boys refused to eat his half. He said, “I can’t take candy from a stranger.”

 

 


His obedience to the rule was without understanding the underlying meaning.

 


In this week’s Scripture, Luke 13:10-17, Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath. This causes a church leader to become angry. The rule was, no work on the Sabbath. Jesus points out that, if it’s okay to water their animals on the Sabbath then surely, it’s okay to heal this woman.


We often get hung up on rules without looking beyond the surface and going deeper. One of the Ten Commandments is, to keep the Sabbath holy, Exodus 20:8-11. What is the reason for not working on the Sabbath? God made everything in six days. If he can do that and then rest a day, we should be able to do our work in the same amount of time.

 


What about those whose jobs require the work be seven days each week, i.e. medical, power and utilities, emergency workers, etc. The important thing is to rest and honor God…which ever day of the week that happens to be. Most of us are working more than we should and it’s no one’s fault but our own. We need to dig down on this question and find the balance of work and rest.


This doesn’t mean that rules aren’t important and that we shouldn’t follow them, because they are. We need to be careful to not get hung up on each little rule or cultural trend and miss the big picture. Our busy lives cause us to take things at face value. It’s quicker and easier to follow the crowd and just believe what we’re being told. It’s important to dig deep and find the underlying foundation.


There’s something better out there and it’s up to us to find it.


Some people visiting an orphanage in Botswana witnessed a young girl who wasn’t joining in the activities with the rest of the children. Then they noticed crutches lying on the ground beside her. After some research they found out that she was unable to walk from birth, but with the use of the crutches and therapy she was improving. As the group was going inside, she fell, the people started to go help her up, but the leaders of the orphanage stopped them. They said that God has something better in store for every child and her getting up on her own made her stronger.


 

 

God has something better in store for each of us…we just have to get up when we fall down.

 


We need to be careful to not get tripped up by the rules without knowing the underlying meaning and if we do, get back up and go again. The more we do the stronger we become.

Are You Getting What You Pray For?

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If Not, Maybe the Problem Lies in Your Expectation

 

We’ve all had times when we prayed for something only to be disappointed. Whether the outcome we prayed for happened only to make things worse. Or, maybe we prayed and prayed and never got the answer we wanted.

 


What’s the problem with our praying?


We need to align our praying with God’s plans.


Pastor Lee told a story about a church that was struggling financially. They needed $10,000 to meet their year-end obligations. The church began a prayer campaign to this end and soon they were given some stocks worth $5,000. The leadership of the church met and decided to go ahead and sell the stock and continue to pray for the remaining $5,000.

 


The next day when the pastor was planning to go sell the stocks there was a snowstorm that kept him from going. After a few days the storm was over and the roads had cleared, he went to complete the sale of the stocks. In the few days he was unable to go, the stock price had doubled. Prayer answered.


Why is it when we pray for peace or healing or some other worthy cause we don’t receive it?


We need to align our praying with God’s plans.


Maybe we need to alter our expectations, but not our faith. In Luke 11:1-13, Jesus teaches us how to pray. Most of us are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer, Verses 1-4, and many can recite it from memory. We’re less familiar with Verses 5-13. Here He tells us to continue asking and you will get what you ask for. The problem is that often what we ask for is not the thing WE SHOULD ASK FOR.


If we break down praying, there are six main points:

  1. – Remember that God is God. He made everything and can do anything He wants. We need to align our wants with His.
  2. –  We’re given just what we need each day. God wants us to have blessings overflowing, but to not be wasteful.
  3. – Forgive us because we continually mess up. Jesus has already paid the price for our failures…we just need accept the payment and mess up less tomorrow.
  4. – Forgive others. This is paying forgiveness forward. If we’ve been forgiven, it only makes sense to forgive others.
  5. – Protection from being tempted. Put on and wear the Armor of God, Ephesians 6:10-16. This protection is ours to use, but we have to put it on and wear it every day.
  6. – Be relentless in your asking. Ask…ask…ask…ask…and ask again, just be careful what it is that you’re asking for. Once you get it, it might not be what you thought.


When we align our praying with God’s plans for our lives, things go a lot smoother and the outcome is much better.


A lady was shopping for an anniversary card for her husband and found the perfect card to give him. On the front of the card it said, “Well it’s not what you prayed for…” On the inside it said, “but apparently it’s the answer.”

 

 


We need to align our praying with God’s plans and then we’ll get what we pray for.

 

How Can I Know Who I Am and What I’m Here For?

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By Digging Down To the Foundation

 

 

 

Who am I and why am I here, are questions that we’ve all asked. Finding the answer is the tricky part, not to mention we may not like the answer once we find it.


We will never know who we are until we determine WHO’s we are.

 

 

There are a lot of lost people wandering around seeking purpose in money, a job, a relationship or some other worldly treasure. Not that any of these worldly treasures are wrong, in and of the themselves. The problem is when we build our lives on them. Making these things the most important is like building a house on a sand foundation.

 

 


Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:24-27, what happens if we build on sand. He tells us to build on the Rock. If we use Him as our foundation everything we build is solid and steady.

 


To use Jesus as our foundation requires us to get to know him. The more time we spend with Him the better we will know Him. Just like parents, grandparents, spouses or children, after spending large amounts of time together you recognize them by their smell, shape, voices, actions, etc. The same is true for spending time with Jesus.


The Master Architect has designed our lives, it’s up to us to read the blueprints.


This past week was youth Sunday at church and Hannah (the youth leader) gave a super message. Here’s a link to a short video titled “Who I Am”, by David Bowden that she used as part of the service.


Who are YOU and what are YOU here for?

Do You Have Your Affairs in Order?

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Having Your Priorities in The Right Place

 

 

“The love of money causes all kinds of evil. Some people have left the faith, because they wanted to get more money, but they have caused themselves much sorrow.”, 1 Timothy 6:10 NCV. Money and wealth are often seen as evil and wrong.


The problem isn’t the money, the problem is the heart.

 


The Leo Tolstoy story, “How Much Land Does a Man Need” is a classic tale of greed. In this story Pahom, a hardworking farmer with a small piece of land. After a series of events he has managed to purchase more and more land, but it’s still not enough. He is then presented with the opportunity to buy some land for a fixed price. He can have as much as he wants but must be able to walk around it in a day. He starts walking quickly around the property as the day goes on, he keeps getting further and further from the starting point. He looks up and realizes the day is coming to an end and he still has a long way to go. He runs hard to get back and just as the sun sets, he collapses at the starting point. Exhausted from his effort he dies. He is buried in a 3’x6’ plot, thus the question is answered.


The rich man who had a great harvest and tears down his barn to build a bigger one in Luke 12:13-41 experiences the same fate. He thinks he can have good things for many years and can “eat, drink and be merry”. This doesn’t work out so well.


Both men are dealing with four of the same issues.

 


1st – Full barns and empty hearts. They both were looking at themselves from man’s perspective rather than God’s. They saw their worth only from a worldly view.


2nd – Overestimation of their own worth. They saw what they had as being from the work of their own hands. They gave none of the credit to God.


3rd – They forgot what their real business was. Like in the Christmas Carole when Jacob Marley come back as a ghost and warns Scrooge. “I wear the chain I forged in life…I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”…”Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were my business.”


4th – They forgot about time. They thought they had all the time they wanted…but they didn’t.

 


We all have a limited amount of time and only God knows what that is.


We need to use the time we’re given here to prepare for the eternal. We have a limited amount of time in this life and we need to use it wisely. Pastor Lee pointed out how digital clocks show time as fixed and unmoving and analog clocks with second hands are constantly moving, time is continuously moving.


A very sick man was sitting, with his family. His doctor told him that he didn’t have long to live and that he should get his affairs in order. The man put his arms around his family and said to the doctor, “Sir, my affairs ARE in order.

 

 


Make sure that your affairs are in order.

Every One of Us Is Different…Not Better

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What Makes Us Better Is Dealing with Those Differences in The Right Way

 

 

We’ve all been in situations where our feelings have been hurt or we hurt someone else’s. Most of the time this is unintentional, not always, but most of the time.


I’ve told the story many times about how my feelings used to be hurt when my wife would give me a short and direct answer on a question. These “crushing blows to my psyche were perplexing to me. I was sure that she loved me, why would she be so uncaring with her answers?

 

Then we did a DISC personality profile test while leading a Financial Peace University class at our church. The understanding of these different personalities was huge. It changed everything for me.


I realized that she answered me directly without wasting any time or energy on unnecessary frivolities. While on the other hand I was unrealistically expecting a detailed, analytical, well thought out and caring answer. Once I understood our differences it made all the difference in the world.


It’s important to know who we are and who other people are.


Some years ago, The Archbishop of Canterbury was rushing to catch a train in London. In his haste, he accidentally jumped on the wrong passenger car and found himself on a car full of inmates from a mental hospital. They were all dressed in mental hospital clothing.

Just as the train pulled out of the station, an orderly came in and began to count the inmates, “1-2-3-4…” when suddenly he saw this distinguished looking gentleman there wearing a business suit and a clerical collar and he said:

“Who are you?” The answer came back: “I am the Archbishop of Canterbury!” And the orderly said: “5-6-7-8.”


Another good example of this in Luke 10:38-42, where Martha is working hard to make everything perfect for Jesus’ visit while Mary is sitting in the other room listening to Him. Jesus tells Martha to relax and make sure her focus is on the ‘one important thing’.


Martha was resentful, narrow and unkind with her complaint of her sister. She was caught up in her own inner desires and thoughts. She wasn’t giving any consideration to her sister’s differences.


Since taking the DISC personality profile I have taken a few different kinds of personality tests. Even though there are a variety of differences in these tests, one thing is true and consistent through all of them.


We are all different…not better…just different.


It pays huge dividends to know and recognize and embrace these differences. I heard it said once by a married couple, “If we were both the same, one of us wouldn’t be needed.”

 


We are all made in God’s image. This means that all our differences are representative of Him. Let’s see our differences as individual puzzle pieces and find out where we fit into His big puzzle.

 

What Are the Rules That You Live By?

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They Will Be the Building Blocks in Your Life’s Foundation

 

 

 

We all make choices everyday about how we will live our lives and how we will treat those around us.


Often, we adults make things more complicated than they need to be and it’s really pretty simple. All we really need to know we learned in kindergarten, just ask Robert Fulghum.

 


Here’s a partial list:

  • Share everything.
  • Play fair.
  • Don’t hit people.
  • Put things back where you found them.
  • CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
  • Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
  • Say you’re SORRY when you HURT somebody.
  • Wash your hands before you eat.
  • Flush.
  • Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

 


These are just good common-sense things that will be great foundation blocks for building a better world.

 


We can make a big difference by doing small things, even though at the time it might not seem like it. The story of the young boy and the starfish is a good parable that makes this point.

 


“One day, an old man was walking along a beach that was littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked, he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one.
Puzzled, the man looked at the boy and asked what he was doing. Without looking up from his task, the boy simply replied, “I’m saving these starfish, Sir”.
The old man chuckled aloud, “Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?”
The boy picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the water and turning to the man, said, “I made a difference to that one!”

 

 

Use good blocks for building your life.

 

Whats It Take to Be A Good Samaritan?

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It’s Less Difficult Than You Might Think

 

 

The story of the Good Samaritan is one of the most popular stories in all of literature, most everyone has heard it. What is it that makes this story so popular? It’s because it goes right to the heart of who we are made to be. We’re told to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.” Also, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”


This is what a Good Samaritan does.


A Good Samaritan puts others needs above their own. They look for ways to help others. This is true in every area of life: work, family, play, it doesn’t matter.

 

 

We’ve become separated from and distant to others. This is in part to the excess use of social media, electronic communication, etc. It’s much easier to be less civil to someone digitally than in person.


As human beings we were made to be connected, it’s in our DNA.

 


Albert Einstein put it like this, “A human being is a part of the whole, called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”


Helping others is how we free ourselves.


In the final two episodes of the “Seinfeld” show the main actors of the show witness an overweight man getting carjacked while they’re waiting on a plane. Instead of helping him, they crack jokes about his size while Kramer films it all on his camcorder, then proceed to walk away. The victim notices this and tells the reporting officer, who arrests them for not helping the man. At their trial the District Attorney’s opening statement is, “the defendants have ignored their Good Samaritan Law and mocked the victim of a mugging.” Comedy tends to follow social reality. Just because comedy does, this doesn’t mean we have to. We can choose our reality.

 


To be a Good Samaritan doesn’t mean that we have to rescue someone from a burning building, save someone who’s drowning, or stop a carjacking, it means we need to show compassion. Being a Good Samaritan can be as simple as opening a door or helping someone who has fallen.


Being a Good Samaritan is simple, it means caring enough to do something to help others.

 

This Is the Best Tired I’ve Ever Been

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Being Exhausted Is Great If You Can See Positive Results

 

Being worn out at the end of a day of hard work is very rewarding. I’ve experienced this feeling after doing construction, working on mission trips, developing business systems, or writing blog posts. We’re made to experience this sense of exhausted exhilaration after an accomplishment.

 

Working through pain and fatigue to accomplish a goal is a superpower.


What we need to remember is where our superpowers come from. Corrie ten Boom uses a story about a woodpecker to make this point. “A woodpecker pecked the trunk of a tree, like they do. At that very moment lightning struck the tree and destroyed it, and the woodpecker flew away saying, ‘I didn’t know that there was so much power in my beak.’ I ask you, do you have the Holy Spirit, or does the Holy Spirit have you?”

 

 

Just like the woodpecker, we can do great things. But when lighting strikes, we need to remember Who split the tree.


Having superpowers doesn’t mean that every great thing we do has to be big. God can take the small things and use them for great. Pastor Lee told a story about a teenage girl who had grown up in a bad situation. After having tried to commit suicide she was meeting with a pastor. While sitting in the pastor’s office she saw the church’s youth pastor and his new wife holding hands and walking to their car. When they got there, he opened the door for her. The teenager said to the pastor, “That’s the kind of family I want.”


The actions of this young couple was a form of superpower and they weren’t aware it was being used, but it was. The small actions that had a big impact. We have the same kind of opportunities to use our superpowers every day, but it does no one any good if we don’t use them.


Actions speak louder than words.


There was a group of college students that grew up…shall we say spoiled. They hadn’t been expected to work any up to this point. While at college they signed to go on a mission trip without really knowing how hard and physical it would be. After returning from the trip while walking across the parking lot to their cars one of them said, “This is the best tired I’ve ever been.”


If you haven’t used your superpowers lately don’t let them go to waste.

 

How to Achieve Your Desired Life Results

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Not to be Confused with Goal Setting

 

 

I think most of the time goal setting is seen the same way as budgeting – restricting, confining, controlling, restraining, and limiting. This is the opposite of how either should be seen.

 


Both should serve as a plan for intentionally building the life of your dreams.


Do you have a plan for what you want your dream life to be? I bet you do, we all do. Sometimes, for whatever reason, we choose to ignore these dreams, to push them down and forget them. Maybe it’s because we’ve had our dreams shattered or after years of waiting, we just gave up. Whatever the reason, you can decide to make that dream a reality or give up on it.

 


I remember years ago, before I knew about Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University, I didn’t like the idea of budgeting. I thought it would keep me from being free to spend money or have fun. Then after going through the class and beginning to budget, I found it to be the opposite. I then had a plan for spending, it gave me more freedom than I had before. Budgeting actually gave me more control of my money.


Goal setting can give you more control of your life.


Our perception of words is part of the problem. We connect our own experiences with words which creates our own individual perspective. Goals is one of those words. Like budgeting, goals can feel constraining. Like budgeting, the opposite is the case.

 

 


Look at the negative, comedic way New Year’s resolutions are viewed. This is a good example of how the lack of intentionality is misleading. When we get caught up in the rhetoric we will just float through life without a plan. If we don’t bother to dig down and build our lives on a solid foundation, we will be blown in whatever direction the wind blows us.

 


A goal is a desired result. A desired result sounds good.


I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t want to achieve their desired results. If we are to live this life we have been given to the fullest, we need to be intentional to do all that we can to achieve the results God has planned for us.


 

Another problem with goal setting is that it can become overwhelming. Most of us have way more dreams and goals than we can ever get done. We built this mountain of things that we want to do. We’re the ones who let it get this big and we’re the ones who can make it smaller. To keep it from feeling so daunting we need to focus on one shovel full at a time rather than the whole thing.


We can’t blame anyone but ourselves for the size of our mountain.

 

It’s also important to remember that if we always set our goals small, we will never grow. We need to be growing and learning all the time. If your goals are always reached, then they aren’t big enough.

 


God has put a life dream in each of us. If we want to achieve it, we need to plan it. It doesn’t matter what you call it, what matters is that you do it. The mountain can be moved, it isn’t too big.


What matters is to align our plan with God’s and start shoveling.

God Does Not Call the Qualified

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Rather, He Qualifies the Called

 

We have all been put here for a purpose. God has a plan for each of us. It is up to us to decide if we are going to act on that plan.


On our own, we feel unqualified and lacking, unable to do great things. The problem is that our perception of great, is a worldly one. We think is has to be some super big amazing thing. Our great may be opening the door for someone, serving on a committee, weeding a flower bed, running a business, or any other of a thousand things we can do to make others’ lives better.

 


Whatever our purpose, God has given us everything we need to accomplish it. It’s up to us to decide if we’ll use it or not.

 


Albert Einstein’s formula E=MC2 was evident in nuclear energy and we all know how powerful that is. Using this formula, it was determined that 1 gram of matter can produce enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for 30,000 years. Based on these calculations a 100-pound person (45359 grams) would be able to generate enough energy to power a 100-watt bulb for 1,360,770,000 years, yes that’s 1.36 billion. I don’t think we’re living up to our potential.

 


We have so much power at our disposal and we neglect to use it. We go through life without focus.

 

Author, philanthropist and life coach, Tony Robbins uses a racing analogy that shows how we go in the direction of our focus. “When your car begins to skid, the natural reflex is look at the wall in an attempt to avoid it. But if you keep focusing on what you fear, that’s exactly where you’ll end up. Professional racers know that we unconsciously steer in the direction of our focus, so with their lives on the line, they turn their focus away from the wall and towards the open track.”


You don’t need to be qualified; you just need to be willing and focus. God will take care of the rest.